keyfile.sgml

This GLib version 2.16.1. GLib is the low-level core library that forms the basis for projects such

<!-- ##### SECTION Title ##### -->
Key-value file parser

<!-- ##### SECTION Short_Description ##### -->
parses <filename>.ini</filename>-like config files

<!-- ##### SECTION Long_Description ##### -->
<para>
#GKeyFile lets you parse, edit or create files containing groups of
key-value pairs, which we call <firstterm>key files</firstterm> for 
lack of a better name. Several freedesktop.org specifications use
key files now, e.g the 
<ulink url="http://freedesktop.org/Standards/desktop-entry-spec">Desktop
Entry Specification</ulink> and the
<ulink url="http://freedesktop.org/Standards/icon-theme-spec">Icon
Theme Specification</ulink>. 
</para>

<para>
The syntax of key files is described in detail in the 
<ulink url="http://freedesktop.org/Standards/desktop-entry-spec">Desktop
Entry Specification</ulink>, here is a quick summary: Key files
consists of groups of key-value pairs, interspersed with comments.
</para>

<informalexample><programlisting>
# this is just an example
# there can be comments before the first group

[First Group]

Name=Key File Example\tthis value shows\nescaping

# localized strings are stored in multiple key-value pairs
Welcome=Hello
Welcome[de]=Hallo
Welcome[fr]=Bonjour
Welcome[it]=Ciao

[Another Group]

Numbers=2;20;-200;0

Booleans=true;false;true;true

</programlisting></informalexample>

<para>
Lines beginning with a '#' and blank lines are considered comments.
</para>

<para>
Groups are started by a header line containing the group name enclosed
in '[' and ']', and ended implicitly by the start of the next group or
the end of the file. Each key-value pair must be contained in a group.
</para>

<para>
Key-value pairs generally have the form <literal>key=value</literal>, 
with the exception of localized strings, which have the form 
<literal>key[locale]=value</literal>. Space before and after the 
'=' character are ignored. Newline, tab, carriage return and backslash 
characters in value are escaped as \n, \t, \r, and \\, respectively. 
To preserve leading spaces in values, these can also be escaped as \s.
</para>

<para>
Key files can store strings (possibly with localized variants), integers,
booleans and lists of these. Lists are separated by a separator character,
typically ';' or ','. To use the list separator character in a value in
a list, it has to be escaped by prefixing it with a backslash.
</para>

<para>
This syntax is obviously inspired by the <filename>.ini</filename> 
files commonly met on Windows, but there are some important differences:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
<filename>.ini</filename> files use the ';' character to begin comments,
 key files use the '#' character.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Key files do not allow for ungrouped keys meaning only comments can precede the first group.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Key files are always encoded in UTF-8.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Key and Group names are case-sensitive, for example a group called
<literal>[GROUP]</literal> is a different group from <literal>[group]</literal>.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
<filename>.ini</filename> files don't have a strongly typed boolean entry type, they only
have <literal>GetProfileInt</literal>. In <structname>GKeyFile</structname> only
<literal>true</literal> and <literal>false</literal> (in lower case) are allowed.
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>

<para>
Note that in contrast to the
<ulink url="http://freedesktop.org/Standards/desktop-entry-spec">Desktop
Entry Specification</ulink>, groups in key files may contain the same
key multiple times; the last entry wins. Key files may also contain
multiple groups with the same name; they are merged together.
Another difference is that keys and group names in key files are not
restricted to ASCII characters.
</para>

<!-- ##### SECTION See_Also ##### -->
<para>

</para>

<!-- ##### SECTION Stability_Level ##### -->


<!-- ##### STRUCT GKeyFile ##### -->
<para>
The <structname>GKeyFile</structname> struct contains only private fields
and should not be used directly.
</para>


<!-- ##### MACRO G_KEY_FILE_ERROR ##### -->
<para>
Error domain for key file parsing. Errors in this domain will
be from the #GKeyFileError enumeration. See #GError for information on 
error domains.
</para>



<!-- ##### ENUM GKeyFileError ##### -->
<para>
Error codes returned by key file parsing.
</para>

@G_KEY_FILE_ERROR_UNKNOWN_ENCODING: the text being parsed was in an unknown encoding
@G_KEY_FILE_ERROR_PARSE: document was ill-formed
@G_KEY_FILE_ERROR_NOT_FOUND: the file was not found
@G_KEY_FILE_ERROR_KEY_NOT_FOUND: a requested key was not found
@G_KEY_FILE_ERROR_GROUP_NOT_FOUND: a requested group was not found
@G_KEY_FILE_ERROR_INVALID_VALUE: a value could not be parsed

<!-- ##### ENUM GKeyFileFlags ##### -->
<para>
Flags which influence the parsing.
</para>

@G_KEY_FILE_NONE: No flags, default behaviour
@G_KEY_FILE_KEEP_COMMENTS: Use this flag if you plan to write the (possibly modified)
  contents of the key file back to a file; otherwise all comments will be lost when
  the key file is written back.
@G_KEY_FILE_KEEP_TRANSLATIONS: Use this flag if you plan to write the (possibly modified)
  contents of the key file back to a file; otherwise only the translations for the current
  language will be written back.

<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_new ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@Returns: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_free ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_set_list_separator ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: 
@separator: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_load_from_file ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: 
@file: 
@flags: 
@error: 
@Returns: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_load_from_data ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: 
@data: 
@length: 
@flags: 
@error: 
@Returns: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_load_from_data_dirs ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: 
@file: 
@full_path: 
@flags: 
@error: 
@Returns: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_load_from_dirs ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: 
@file: 
@search_dirs: 
@full_path: 
@flags: 
@error: 
@Returns: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_to_data ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: 
@length: 
@error: 
@Returns: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_get_start_group ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: 
@Returns: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_get_groups ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: 
@length: 
@Returns: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_get_keys ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: 
@group_name: 
@length: 
@error: 
@Returns: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_has_group ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: 
@group_name: 
@Returns: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_has_key ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: 
@group_name: 
@key: 
@error: 
@Returns: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_get_value ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: 
@group_name: 
@key: 
@error: 
@Returns: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_get_string ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: 
@group_name: 
@key: 
@error: 
@Returns: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_get_locale_string ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: 
@group_name: 
@key: 
@locale: 
@error: 
@Returns: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_get_boolean ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: 
@group_name: 
@key: 
@error: 
@Returns: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_get_integer ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: 
@group_name: 
@key: 
@error: 
@Returns: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_get_double ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: 
@group_name: 
@key: 
@error: 
@Returns: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_get_string_list ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: 
@group_name: 
@key: 
@length: 
@error: 
@Returns: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_get_locale_string_list ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: 
@group_name: 
@key: 
@locale: 
@length: 
@error: 
@Returns: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_get_boolean_list ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: 
@group_name: 
@key: 
@length: 
@error: 
@Returns: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_get_integer_list ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: 
@group_name: 
@key: 
@length: 
@error: 
@Returns: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_get_double_list ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: 
@group_name: 
@key: 
@length: 
@error: 
@Returns: 


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_key_file_get_comment ##### -->
<para>

</para>

@key_file: